Game of Inheritance

ABSTRACT

A card game involves players competing for respective shares of an inheritance from a decedent. Trick-taking rounds are played in which players estimate the number of tricks they expect to take based on their dealt hands. Successful achievement of the estimated number of tricks earns an inheritance payout, while failure to match the estimate results in a debt owed to the bank. The majority of cards are divided into suits, each of which corresponds to a different line of descendants related to the decedent, and each of which has a hierarchy of familial positions. A small number of ‘lawyer cards’ are included that outrank the suited family cards, and that can be played to take the hand when a player cannot follow suit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 61/755,655, filed Jan. 23, 2013.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to games, and more particularlyto a trick-taking card game in which players compete for the largestshare of an imaginary inheritance. The game may be called simply“Inheritance”, or may have a different but similarly themed name, suchas “The Will” or “Testament”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Applicant has developed a unique game providing a notable level ofentertainment value when played among family members or in other groupsettings, with a relatively simple game kit that can be economicallymanufactured and affordably marketed.

Examples of prior art games that in one way or another generally relateto the topic of inheritance or heirs include the board game “Maloney'sInheritance”, the card game “The Heirs” played with a “Six Generations”deck of cards, and another card game called “Lost Heir” also played witha specialized deck of cards.

The game of the present invention differs notably in terms of both thephysical game kit or apparatus and the manner of play.

The closest known prior art is perhaps a card game known as “Oh Hell”,which is played with a standard conventional deck of cards, but stillhas notable differences in comparison to the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a methodof playing a trick-taking card game in which competing players eachcompete for shares of an imaginary financial inheritance, and a highestachieved share of said imaginary financial inheritance at the end of thecard game determines a winner of said card game, the method comprising:

(a) playing a number of rounds each comprising:

-   -   (i) having a respective hand of cards dealt to each competing        player from a deck of cards having a plurality of suits each        having a plurality of ranked cards, and at least one non-suited        card that outranks each ranked card of each suit;    -   (ii) having each player estimate a number of tricks to be taken        by playing of said player's respective hand of cards against the        respective hand of cards of each other player, and recording        said estimated number of tricks for each player;    -   (iii) playing a number of tricks equal to the number of cards        dealt for each hand, each trick involving the players        sequentially discarding one card each for comparison of the rank        of said discarded cards to determine a taker of said trick as        being the player who discarded the highest ranking card in said        trick; and    -   (iv) after completion of said number of tricks, comparing a        number of tricks taken by each player against said player's        estimated number of tricks, and adding an imaginary inheritance        payout to an imaginary financial status for each player whose        number of tricks taken matches said player's estimated number of        tricks; and

(b) comparing the imaginary financial status of the players against oneanother to determine a winner of the game as being the player having thegreatest imaginary financial status.

Preferably the suits of cards are distinguished from one another asdifferent familial groups.

Preferably the cards of each suit are ranked by familial positions.

Preferably each non-suited card is termed a lawyer card.

Step (a)(iii) may comprise, during one of the tricks, having one playerdiscard a lawyer card to outrank previously discarded suited cards ofsaid trick and verbally announce the outranking of said previouslydiscarded cards by the lawyer card as collection of a fee.

Step (a)(iii) may further comprise having another player discard anotherlawyer card after discarding of the first lawyer card and verballyannounce an objection to the outranking of the previously discardedsuited cards by the first lawyer card, whereby the second lawyer cardoutranks the first lawyer card.

Step (a)(iii) may further comprise having yet another player discard yetanother lawyer card after discarding of the first and second lawyercards and verbally announce a challenge to the objection, whereby thethird lawyer card outranks the first and second lawyer cards.

Step (a)(ii), for one or more of the rounds, preferably comprises firsthaving each player privately estimate the number of tricks to be taken,then simultaneously revealing the estimated number of tricks from allsaid players, and recording said estimated number of tricks from allsaid players.

Step (a)(ii), for one or more of the rounds, preferably comprises havingeach player select a number of physical trick indicators each indicativeof a respective trick said player expects to take.

Preferably said trick indicators are configured to visually representgold bars.

Step (a)(iv) preferably comprises distributing play money to each playerwhose number of tricks taken matches said player's estimated number oftricks.

Step (a)(iv) preferably comprises subtracting a debt value from thefinancial status of each player whose number of tricks taken does notmatch said player's estimated number of tricks.

Step (a)(iv) may comprise issuing one or more debt cards to playerswhose number of tricks taken does not match said player's estimatednumber of tricks and whose financial status is less than zero afterhaving subtracted the debt value.

Preferably a number of cards dealt in step (a)(i) is reduced by one foreach successive round.

The method may include, before step (b), playing a final round in whicha respective single card is dealt face-down to each player from the deckand having each player display said respective single card to each otherplayer without viewing of said single card by said player, having eachplayer predict whether said player will take or not take a single trickplayed with said single cards, playing the single trick, and adding anadditional imaginary inheritance payout to the imaginary financialstatus for a player that took said single trick.

In some cases, the player to whom the additional imaginary inheritancepayout was made in the final round successfully predicted playing saidtrick, and was awarded the additional imaginary inheritance payout basedon said successful prediction.

In other cases, the player to whom the additional imaginary inheritancepayout was made in the final round took the trick using a non-suitedcard, and was awarded the additional imaginary inheritance payout,regardless of whether said player accurately predicted taking saidtrick.

The method may comprise, after completion of all the forgoing rounds,but before step (b), playing a bonus round comprising:

having a respective single card dealt face up to each player from thedeck;

for each suit shown by the respective cards dealt face up to theplayers, awarding a bonus inheritance amount to the player having thehighest ranking card in said suit.

In the bonus round, at least one of the cards dealt face up may be oneof the one or more non-suit cards, in which case the player to whichsaid one of the one or more non-suit cards was dealt is preferablyawarded at least a share of each bonus inheritance amount.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a gameapparatus for playing a trick-taking card game in which competingplayers each compete for shares of an imaginary financial inheritance,and a highest achieved share of said imaginary financial inheritance atthe end of the card game determines a winner of said card game, theapparatus comprising:

a deck of cards having a plurality of suits each having a plurality ofranked cards, and at least one non-suited card that outranks each rankedcard of each suit;

play money; and

instructions instructing players to the use the deck of cards and theplay money to play a game having the steps of:

(a) playing at least one round in which

-   -   (i) a respective hand of cards is dealt to each competing player        from a deck of cards having a plurality of suits each having a        plurality of ranked cards, and at least one non-suited card that        outranks each ranked card of each suit;    -   (ii) each player estimates a number of tricks to be taken by        playing of said player's respective hand of cards against the        respective hand of cards of each other player, and recording        said estimated number of tricks for each player;    -   (iii) a number of tricks equal to the number of cards dealt for        each hand are played, each trick involving the players        sequentially discarding one card each for comparison of the rank        of said discarded cards to determine a taker of said trick as        being the player who discarded the highest ranking card in said        trick; and    -   (iv) after completion of said number of tricks, a number of        tricks taken by each player is compared against said player's        estimated number of tricks, and the play money is used to        distribute an imaginary inheritance payout to each player whose        number of tricks taken matches said player's estimated number of        tricks, thereby increasing an imaginary financial status of said        player; and

(b) comparing the imaginary financial status of said players against oneanother to determine a winner of the game as the player having thegreatest imaginary financial status.

The instructions may be provided in the form of printed instructions, aninstructional DVD or CD-ROM for displaying an on-screen instructionalvideo, or a computer readable medium having stored thereon a documentcontaining viewable instructions for printing or for on-screen viewing,whether the computer readable medium is provided to the user for localaccess, or is remotely accessed by the user over the network, forexample over the internet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one or more exemplaryembodiments of the present invention:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates different suits of a deck of cards usedto play the game of the present invention.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates one possible design layout for theplaying side of the suited cards of the deck.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates one possible design layout for the rearside of the cards of the deck.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a game set or kit for playing the game,including suited family cards, non-suited lawyer cards that outrank thesuited cards, gold bars used by each player to represent an estimate ofthe number of tricks they expect to take in a hand of play, debt cardsdistributed to losing players of the hand, and play money distributed tothe winning player of the hand.

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an alternate suit that may be used inplace of one of the suits shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One detailed embodiment of the card game of the present invention, whichmay simply be referred to as “Inheritance”, is described herein below interms of the back-story, physical game kit or apparatus, and mode ormethod of game play. The details laid in the following description areexemplary only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the presentinvention, as set out in the appended claims.

Storyline

As an example of a possible story line forming the backdrop to the modeof gameplay, great-grandfather Alexander passed away at the age of 98.He left an estate worth millions of dollars. He had 4 sons. The firstson married into Royalty. His descendants are the Royals. The second sonwent into the movie industry. His descendants are the Movie Stars. Thethird son became an executive in a major company. His descendants arethe City Slickers. The fourth son longed for a simple life and moved hisfamily to the country. His descendants are the Hillbillies. Alexanderleft no will. All his descendants are bidding and battling for themillions.

With reference to FIG. 5, in another embodiment, the fourth son insteadjoined the circus, and his descendants are referred to as the Clowns.

Game Kit or Apparatus

An example of a suitable kit or apparatus for playing the game withthree to nine players is outlined below. Each player plays forhimself/herself in an attempt to gain the greatest share of theinheritance, for example as distributed in million dollar denominations(i.e. millions). The game kit may include a deck of sixty-seven playingcards, including four Family units (or suits) with 16 members (or cards)in each family, for a total of sixty-four cards suited/familial cards.The deck is completed by the addition of three lawyer cards, which areindependent of any of the familial units or suits. Ninety small scale,simulated gold bricks (e.g. formed of suitably yellow or gold coloredpieces of wood, plastic or other suitable material) and one hundred andfifty “million dollar bills” of play money are also included, along withfifty “debt cards”. A note pad for the purpose of recording trick-takingpredictions during game play may be included as part of the kit, orplayers may alternatively use a separate pad, paper or electronic meansfor recording predictions during play.

As mentioned above, the game is based on four family units with eachunit representing a respective suit in the deck of cards. Colors oremblems, or preferably a combination thereof, may be used to distinguishthe different suits of cards. With reference to the storyline above, andas schematically shown in FIG. 1, an example of four suits used in thedeck may be 1) The Royals, in blue, with a crown emblem; 2) Movie Stars,in red, with a star emblem; 3) City Slickers, in green, with a briefcaseemblem; and 4) Hillbillies, in yellow or orange, with a straw hatemblem. Where Clowns are used as the fourth suit instead, the clowncards may have the same yellow/orange theme as the Hillbilly cards theyreplace, or may employ an alternate color scheme, for example amulti-colored ‘rainbow’ theme reflective of the circus context of thissuit.

A hierarchy of familial positions is used within each suit or family todenote a ranking of the cards, for example, from highest to lowest:Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, Teen Boy, Teen Girl, Baby Boy, Baby Girl,Uncle, Aunt, boy/male cousin, girl/female cousin, in-laws, Dog, Cat, andGoldfish. As illustrated by this example, the familial positions neednot necessarily be limited to humans, as pets or animals may beincluded.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates one possible layout of the playing faceof the cards, where a center of the card features a picture orillustration of the family member, the top and bottom of the card face(i.e. the two shorter edges of the card's rectangular shape) feature theprinted name of the family member, the two longer side edges of the cardfeature the emblem of the suit, and the corners of the card show thenumerical rank of the family member (e.g. the goldfish card having alowest possible rank of ‘1’, and the grandpa card having the highestpossible rank of ‘16’). The card name and rank at the top and bottom ofthe card are preferably printed inversely to one another so that thecard is readable regardless of which end of the card is oriented upward.The picture or illustration may similarly incorporate two inversedimages of the family member for convenient recognition regardless of thecard orientation in the user's hand. The picture used for each familymember may differ from one suite to the next, for example the Goldfishcard in the Movie Star suit may have a picture of a fish that hassomehow been outfitted or characterized to look like a movie star. FIG.3 schematically illustrates a possible design layout for the rear ofeach card.

The non-suited lawyer cards outrank all other cards in the deck, and maybe depicted in black and white to distinguish them from the coloredsuits.

Objective & Setup

The objective of the game is to make the most millions by accumulatingthe greatest inheritance. The above described cards are used inaccordance with the above described ranking to play a trick-taking cardgame, where a lead card sets the suit to be followed, and the highestranked card played in that suit takes the trick, unless a lawyer card isplayed. Millions are inherited by players who accurately predict of howmany tricks they will win in each round or hand.

To setup the game, a select number of cards may be removed from the deckif a relatively small number of players are competing. For example, toplay with four players, one may remove all the Cat and Goldfish cards,and for three players, may remove all the animal cards, and the in-lawsif desired. The removed cards are left out of play for the entire game.For five players or more, all the cards are preferably used.

A predetermined quantity of gold bars, for example ten, is passed toevery player, and one player is selected and established to be the“Judge” to record the trick-taking predictions from every player.Another player is selected and established to be the “Executor” todistribute the million dollar bills and the debt cards from the bank.The dealer for the first round or hand may be determined by draw or cutof the cards by all players, for example using the highest revealed cardto identify the first dealer, from which the subsequent dealer isselected to the left, and so on for each subsequent hand or round. Suchclockwise deal and play conventions are common among games played with astandard deck of cards, and thus retained herein for the sake ofconvenience, but may be varied within the scope of the presentinvention.

Game Play

There are basically five steps to follow for each hand or round ofplay 1) dealing of hands to the players; 2) having each player predictthe number of tricks they expect to take with their respective hand; 3)record the predictions of all the players; 4) play one or more tricksusing the dealt hands; and 5) distribute inherited money and/or debtcards according to whether any of the players accurately predicted thenumber of tricks they took in the hand. More detailed explanation of theactions taken in each step are outlined as follows.

1) DEAL—The dealer shuffles the deck of cards and deals an equal amountof cards to each player. The remaining cards are left face down in thedeck and unused for the current round.

2) PREDICT—Each player must predict how many tricks he/she will winaccording to the hand he/she was dealt. The Lawyers are the highestranking cards, and are usually good for a trick each, the exceptionbeing a situation where more than one Lawyer card is played in a trick,as outlined herein further below. Next in rank below the Lawyers aregrandpas, grandmas, etc. The number of tricks available will depend onthe number of cards each player has in their hand. For example if ninecards are dealt to each player, there are nine tricks “up for grabs”.Once everyone has privately determined/guessed how many tricks they willwin in that round, the players are ready to reveal their predictions.Each player secretly places a number of gold bars in their hand thatmatches their predicted number of tricks to be taken, and preferablyconceals their remaining bars to prevent others from being able torealize their prediction and use knowledge of the same in their ownprediction. The Judge calls on everyone to place their closed fiststoward the centre of the table or other playing area. Then, at theJudges lead everyone will call out together “1, 2, 3 reveal” as theylightly tap their closed first on the table with each count of the threecount. After the ‘three’ is called everyone opens their first face up toshow their prediction to other players.

3) RECORD—The Judge then records everyone's prediction on paper, and thegold bars are set aside for the remainder of the round, for examplebeing returned to the respective gold bar stash or store of each player,which may be kept in a location or state obscured from the sight of theother players.

4) PLAY THE HAND—The person to the left of the dealer makes the openinglead by discarding a single card face-up. The play then continuesclockwise, each player likewise discarding a single card in a face-upcondition. Each player must follow suit to the lead card, if able to doso based on the presence of that suit in their hand, unless the playerpossesses and wishes to play a Lawyer card, as outlined further below.If unable to follow suit, a player may discard any card from anothersuit, which carries no rank against the lead suit, and thus is athrow-away card. A trick is won by the highest card of the suit led, ora Lawyer card if played, as explained below. The winner of the trickleads in the next trick. Play continues in this manner until all cardsof the current hand have been played.

There are three Lawyer cards in the deck. They may or may not be in playeach round, depending on whether they were dealt out, as they could bein the unused portion of the deck for the current hand. A Lawyer cardmay be played at any time on a player's designated turn. Following suitis not required by a player possessing and wanting to play a Lawyercard. Whoever plays a Lawyer card preferably states “I'm collecting myfee” and will override all other cards with this top-rank card, thusnormally winning the trick. However, if a following player in the sametrick plays another Lawyer card, and preferably states, “I object”, thissecond Lawyer card overrides the first Lawyer card. In the event thatthe third Lawyer card is played in the same trick, that player wouldstate “I challenge the objection” and win the trick. In summary, thehighest card of the lead suit will win the trick, unless one or moreLawyer cards are played, in which case the latest one of any playedLawyer cards will take the trick.

5) DISTRIBUTION OF INHERITED MONEY OR DEBT CARDS—When all cards havebeen played for that deal, the Judge verifies whether each playerreceives their inheritance, based on whether any players havesuccessfully predicted their taken number of tricks. The Executor thenpasses out, from the ‘bank’, a number of million dollar bills to eachplayer who predicted correctly, the number of bills being selected tomatch the accurately predicted number of tricks taken by the player.That is, a matched prediction always allows the player to inherit theexact amount he predicted (e.g. If Player #1 predicted 4 tricks and won4 tricks, he/she would receive 4 million dollars). All players who didnot exactly match their prediction, (whether taking less or more tricksthan predicted) owes the bank a sum of two million dollars. If theplayer doesn't have two million dollars, the Executor gives out debtcards representative of the amount owed to the bank by that player.Debts must be paid as soon as a player has inherited any money in futuredeals. The “Debt value” of each debt card preferably matches thedenomination of the play money bills, i.e. each debt card reflects onemillion dollars of debt in the preferred embodiment where the bills andthe inheritance values they represent are also in one million dollardenominations.

In the forgoing preferred mode of game play, a prediction of zero trickswill never make money, but will result in a debt of two million dollarsif the player earns one or more tricks. It will be appreciated that theamount of debt assigned to an inaccurate prediction may vary from theabove prescribed two million dollar amount, just as the inheritancevalues and corresponding bills of currency may be in denominations otherthan one millions dollars. In another embodiment, the amount of debtassigned for an inaccurate prediction may vary according to the numberof tricks by which the prediction was out from the actual number oftricks taken, instead of being a flat rate or fixed amount.

Having completed a round or hand in the manner outlined above, the gamecontinues as the deal passes to the left of the previous dealer. Allcards are reshuffled including any extra cards that were left face downin the deck after the last deal. All players are then dealt one lesscard than the previous deal, with the remaining cards again being putaside face down. For example, with the 67-card deck of the preferredembodiment, with five players, each player is dealt thirteen cards inthe first deal and the leftover cards, are put aside. In the seconddeal, each player is dealt twelve cards, and the leftover cards are putaside again. In the third deal, each player receives eleven cards andthe leftover cards are put aside again. Etc.

Play continues round by round as outlined above with each playerreceiving one card less in every deal, remembering to reshuffle allcards for every new deal. Play is continued in this manner until eachplayer is dealt only one card each, which may be used to denote a finalround of the game. This final round may depart somewhat from thestandard-round play described above.

In one embodiment, for this final round, no player is allowed to look attheir own single card. At a verbal count of three performed by oneplayer, e.g. the Judge, or by multiple players counting in unison, eachplayer raises their card outward and holds it against their forehead soas to face toward the other players. Each player can now see everyoneelse's card, but not their own. On the basis of observing the othercards, each player now predicts whether they expect to take the onetrick of this final round, or take zero tricks. The Judge records thepredictions as usual, and the player left of the dealer leads as usualby placing his/her single card face up on the table, followed byeveryone else. As always the highest card of the suit led wins the trickunless a lawyer card is played. In the event that a Lawyer card isrevealed, the last lawyer card played in turn would win the hand.

The Executor hands out the one million dollar bill that may have beenearned in the final round, and any debts should be paid, and/or debtcards handed out, for any unmatched predictions. The game ends onceeveryone counts their accumulated millions (or debts). The winner isdetermined by whoever has accumulated the greatest number of milliondollar shares of the inheritance. In other words, throughout the game,the financial status of each player is represented by the accumulationof million dollar bills or debt cards, with a lack of eitherrepresenting a zero overall gain or loss. Debt cards are dealt out tothose with inaccurate predictions who have insufficient funds to cover adebt incurred from the current round, and million dollar bills awardedas inheritance to those with accurate predictions and either zero debt,or debt that is lower than the gained inheritance from that round. Thegreatest financial status at the end of the game determines the winner.

In another embodiment, an additional ending to the game is played afterthe above single-card round, and consistent with the theme ofinheritance may be referred as “The Codicil”, a codicil generallyreferring to a document that amends a previously executed will.

After everyone has bid on the last card dealt, and the last milliondisbursed if appropriate, and any debts collected or assigned, thecodicil of the will can be played as follows. The whole deck is againshuffled and everyone is dealt one card face up. The highest dealt cardof the Royals inherits 5 million, the highest dealt card of the MovieStars inherits 4 million, the highest dealt card of the City Slickersinherits 3 million, and the highest dealt card of the Hillbilliesinherits 2 million. That is, a predetermined final inheritance value,which may vary among the different suits, is awarded to the playerhaving the highest card in any of the suits dealt in this single-cardbonus round. For any family/suit not represented in the dealt cards ofthis round, no one inherits the respective predetermined amount. If alawyer card is played, all players who inherited on this last deal mustgive the lawyer a one million dollar fee. In the event that multiplelawyers are dealt in this last deal, each lawyer can collect a onemillion dollar fee from those that inherited in this deal.

The final step of the game is then completed in same manner describedabove, where everyone counts their millions, and the player who has themost millions wins.

It will be appreciated that many variations on the above detailedembodiments are contemplated within the scope of the present invention.For example, the familial positions used for ranking of cards within thesuits may be varied in terms of type and order of rank. Likewise, whilethe families of the different suits are identified using societal oroccupational names, titles or designations in the detailed embodiment,other classifications may be used to distinguish the differentfamilies/suits. For example, each suit may be given a different‘surname’ identifier, e.g. the Smiths, the Johnsons, the Browns, & theMillers, which are interpreted as different families sharing a commonlost ancestor whose estate has been recently discovered for distributionamong the different families.

The method of scoring may also be somewhat varied from that describedabove, for example instead of assigning debts for inaccuratepredictions, an inaccurate prediction could instead just result in azero-score for that round. Another embodiment could have each acquiredtrick result in a predetermined inheritance amount per trick, but withan additional awarded inheritance amount for an accurate prediction sothat the accumulation from an accurately predicted number of tricks faroutweighs the inheritance value for winning the same number of trickswithout having accurately predicted the same.

While the preferred embodiment uses ‘gold bars’ or othertrick-prediction indicators in a prediction and recordal process whereeach person's estimate is made privately without knowledge of the otherplayer estimates, other embodiments may forgo the secretive aspect ofthe prediction process, or use a method of privately conveyingprivately-made predictions to the Judge without using physicalimplements that are each reflective of a respective expected trick (e.g.instead having players individually write down their predictionsprivately, and pass the written prediction to the judge). Similarly, thefinancial ‘scoring’ of the game may be made through handwritten or otherscoring techniques without the described use of play money to representthe acquired inheritances.

These are only select examples of possible variations within the scopeof the present invention, as outlined in the appended claims. In theclaims, the term ‘imaginary’ is used to denote that the game is intendedfor entertainment purposes, and that any inheritance being acquired isthus an ‘imaginary inheritance’, not reflective of real assets of anactual estate. However, the term is not meant to exclude playing of thegame contexts where actual financial exchanges may be made, for examplein a wagering context where a ‘pot’ of funds is contributed by theplayers to denote an overall inheritance, and subsequentlyredistributing among the players on the basis of the shares ofinheritance won by successful prediction and taking of tricks duringplaying of the game.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein abovedescribed, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same madewithin the spirit and scope of the claims without department from suchspirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only andnot in a limiting sense.

1. A method of playing a trick-taking card game in which competingplayers each compete for shares of an imaginary financial inheritance,and a highest achieved share of said imaginary financial inheritance atthe end of the card game determines a winner of said card game, themethod comprising: (a) playing a number of rounds each comprising: (i)having a respective hand of cards dealt to each competing player from adeck of cards having a plurality of suits each having a plurality ofranked cards, and at least one non-suited card that outranks each rankedcard of each suit; (ii) having each player estimate a number of tricksto be taken by playing of said player's respective hand of cards againstthe respective hand of cards of each other player, and recording saidestimated number of tricks for each player; (iii) playing a number oftricks equal to the number of cards dealt for each hand, each trickinvolving the players sequentially discarding one card each forcomparison of the rank of said discarded cards to determine a taker ofsaid trick as being the player who discarded the highest ranking card insaid trick; and (iv) after completion of said number of tricks,comparing a number of tricks taken by each player against said player'sestimated number of tricks, and adding an imaginary inheritance payoutto an imaginary financial status for each player whose number of trickstaken matches said player's estimated number of tricks; and (b)comparing the imaginary financial status of the players against oneanother to determine a winner of the game as being the player having thegreatest imaginary financial status.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinthe suits of cards are distinguished from one another as differentfamilial groups.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the cards of each suitare ranked by familial positions.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein eachnon-suited card is termed a lawyer card.
 5. The method of claim 4wherein step (a)(iii) comprises, during one of the tricks, having oneplayer discard a lawyer card to outrank previously discarded suitedcards of said trick and verbally announce the outranking of saidpreviously discarded cards by the lawyer card as collection of a fee. 6.The method of claim 5 wherein step (a)(iii) comprises having anotherplayer discard another lawyer card after discarding of the first lawyercard and verbally announce an objection to the outranking of thepreviously discarded suited cards by the first lawyer card, whereby thesecond lawyer card outranks the first lawyer card.
 7. The method ofclaim 6 wherein step (a)(iii) comprises having yet another playerdiscard yet another lawyer card after discarding of the first and secondlawyer cards and verbally announce a challenge to the objection, wherebythe third lawyer card outranks the first and second lawyer cards.
 8. Themethod of claim 1 wherein step (a)(ii), for one or more of the rounds,comprises first having each player privately estimate the number oftricks to be taken, then simultaneously revealing the estimated numberof tricks from all said players, and recording said estimated number oftricks from all said players.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein step(a)(ii), for one or more of the rounds, comprises having each playerselect a number of physical trick indicators each indicative of arespective trick said player expects to take.
 10. The method of claim 7wherein said trick indicators are configured to visually represent goldbars.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein step (a)(iv) comprisesdistributing play money to each player whose number of tricks takenmatches said player's estimated number of tricks.
 12. The method ofclaim 1 wherein step (a)(iv) comprises subtracting a debt value from thefinancial status of each player whose number of tricks taken does notmatch said player's estimated number of tricks.
 13. The method of claim12 wherein step (a)(iv) comprises issuing one or more debt cards toplayers whose number of tricks taken does not match said player'sestimated number of tricks and whose financial status is less than zeroafter having subtracted the debt value.
 14. The method of claim 1wherein a number of cards dealt in step (a)(i) is reduced by one foreach successive round, and the method comprises, before step (b),playing a final round in which a respective single card is dealtface-down to each player from the deck and having each player displaysaid respective single card to each other player without viewing of saidsingle card by said player, having each player predict whether saidplayer will take or not take a single played with said single cards,playing the single trick, and adding an additional imaginary inheritancepayout to the imaginary financial status for a player that took saidsingle trick.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein the player to whom theadditional imaginary inheritance payout was made successfully predictedplaying said trick, and was awarded the additional imaginary inheritancepayout based on said successful prediction.
 16. The method of claim 14wherein the player to whom the additional imaginary inheritance payoutwas made took the trick using a non-suited card, and was awarded theadditional imaginary inheritance payout, regardless of whether saidplayer accurately predicted taking said trick.
 17. The method of claim 1comprising, after completion of all said rounds, but before step (b),playing a bonus round comprising: having a respective single card dealtface up to each player from the deck; for each suit shown by therespective cards dealt face up to the players, awarding a bonusinheritance amount to the player having the highest ranking card in saidsuit.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein at least one of the cards dealtface up is one of the one or more non-suit cards, and the player towhich said one of the one or more non-suit cards was dealt is awarded atleast a share of each bonus inheritance amount.
 19. A game kit forplaying a trick-taking card game in which competing players each competefor shares of an imaginary financial inheritance, and a highest achievedshare of said imaginary financial inheritance at the end of the cardgame determines a winner of said card game, the kit comprising: a deckof cards having a plurality of suits each having a plurality of rankedcards, and at least one non-suited card that outranks each ranked cardof each suit; play money; and instructions instructing players to theuse the deck of cards and the play money to play a game having the stepsof: (a) playing at least one round in which (i) a respective hand ofcards is dealt to each competing player from a deck of cards having aplurality of suits each having a plurality of ranked cards, and at leastone non-suited card that outranks each ranked card of each suit; (ii)each player estimates a number of tricks to be taken by playing of saidplayer's respective hand of cards against the respective hand of cardsof each other player, and recording said estimated number of tricks foreach player; (iii) a number of tricks equal to the number of cards dealtfor each hand are played, each trick involving the players sequentiallydiscarding one card each for comparison of the rank of said discardedcards to determine a taker of said trick as being the player whodiscarded the highest ranking card in said trick; and (iv) aftercompletion of said number of tricks, a number of tricks taken by eachplayer is compared against said player's estimated number of tricks, andthe play money is used to distribute an imaginary inheritance payout toeach player whose number of tricks taken matches said player's estimatednumber of tricks, thereby increasing an imaginary financial status ofsaid player; and (b) comparing the imaginary financial status of saidplayers against one another to determine a winner of the game as theplayer having the greatest imaginary financial status.